Proto Polynesian *fasu

[Jeff Marck]

There were three related words in Proto Polynesian:

*masakitanga "father's sister"
*qilamutu "man's sister's child"
*fahu "privileges of a man's sister's child with respect to the man's
property,
       time, patience, etc. (and probably specific ceremonial relations that
       went far beyond those of other uncle-niece/nephew relations"

Ken Kiroiwa wrote an important unpublished paper on the subject when he was
a student at U. Hawai'i Dept. Linguistics in the 1970s. I incorporated that
and other information into a more general article entitled "Kin terms in
the Polynesian protolanguages" which was published by Oceanic Linguistics
in December of 1996... now also available as a chapter of my thesis which
Pacific Linguistics published last month. That terminological and
behavioural complex persisted around Western Polynesia but is essentially
lost in modern East Polynesia. But it was apparently continued in the Proto
East Polynesian community as witnessed by a few surviving forms: MQA
pahupahu "cross-sex sibling's child", HAW ilamutu, which I think is
translated as "field marshall" and MAO iramutu, or something like that,
which means "niece or nephew, esp. man sister's child".

Regards and happy holidays to all,

Jeff Marck

On 12/8/00 Jacob F Fitisemanu wrote:

Does anyone know if there are any noted Oceanic cognates or equivalents
of the Tongan "fahu" and Fijian "vasu?" Both terms refer to the western
Polynesian/ melanesian custom of elevating a sister's rank above that of
the men of the family, and extending the accompanying special privileges
and status to a sister's children as well. While not phonetic or
cognative similar, the closest word we can find in Samoan is "ilamutu"
which refers to the respect and privilege paid to a sister's children.
Though the same custom is found in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa (and assumably
in other Oceanic societies) we can't seem to find any linguistically
similar terms for the "vasu/ fahu." Thanks for anything helpful.
Jake Fitisemanu and friends
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